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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you listening.

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Speaker 2: Today's topic is about how to suffer well. We'll return

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Speaker 2: with the devotional after a brief message from one of

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Speaker 2: our sponsors. There's Blessing Found and Suffering, written and read

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Speaker 2: by Emily Rose Massey. Blessed is the one who perseveres

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Speaker 2: under trial, because having stood the test, that person will

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Speaker 2: receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised

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Speaker 2: to those who love him. James Chapter one, verse twelve.

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Speaker 2: When a track unexpected death happens, do shake your fist

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Speaker 2: and proclaim, not today, Satan, we will make the devil pay.

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Speaker 2: Or do trust God's ways are higher than yours and say,

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Speaker 2: like our Lord Jesus, not my will, Lord, but yours

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Speaker 2: be done, and trust that he will use that trial

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Speaker 2: for your good and for his glory. Suffering is a

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Speaker 2: reality for everyone on this earth, including believers. To deny,

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Speaker 2: that is, to deny reality of the fact that we live

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Speaker 2: in a fallen world and Christians are not exempt from

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Speaker 2: the results of it. Remember, the apostles suffered greatly, and

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Speaker 2: many of them died horrendous deaths as martyrs, but it

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Speaker 2: was all for God's glory and a part of his

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Speaker 2: sovereign plan for their lives. James Chapter one, verse twelve

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Speaker 2: shares with us a beautiful promise about suffering. Is the

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Speaker 2: one who perseveres under trial, because having stood the test,

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Speaker 2: that person will receive the crown of life that the

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Speaker 2: Lord has promised to those who love him. Intersecting faith

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Speaker 2: and life, what word comes to mind when you reflect

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Speaker 2: upon suffering, trials, storms, hain, difficulties, and struggles. Most likely

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Speaker 2: the word good seems a bit out of place to

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Speaker 2: describe such life challenges. Yet we see in the life

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Speaker 2: of Job that although he experienced tremendous pain and loss

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Speaker 2: in his life at the hand of the enemy, God

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Speaker 2: allowed it to happen and used it for good so

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Speaker 2: that Job would know the Lord more deeply the double

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Speaker 2: for his trouble. That Job received double the material blessings

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Speaker 2: for his suffering. Teaching that you hear so often in

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Speaker 2: the Prosperity Gospel message tries to take the focus off

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Speaker 2: the entire point of the Book of Job that reveals

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Speaker 2: to us the beautiful attribute of God's sovereignty over all

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Speaker 2: things that happens in our world, including pain and suffering.

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Speaker 2: When we try to give more power to Satan than

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Speaker 2: we should. We infer that he got one past God,

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Speaker 2: like God was completely unaware it was going to happen.

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Speaker 2: The fact of the matter is that God allows suffering

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Speaker 2: and pain to come into our life for a reason.

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Speaker 2: God will use all things to conform us to the

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Speaker 2: image of Christ, and often in the life of a believer,

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Speaker 2: that includes pain and suffering. In times of suffering, we

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Speaker 2: can pray for God's mercy to come and cry out

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Speaker 2: for his help in time of trouble. Yes, but we

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Speaker 2: must remember Jesus promised that in this life there will

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Speaker 2: be trouble. John chapter sixteen, verse thirty three. Yet we

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Speaker 2: know that He overcame the world for us, and we

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Speaker 2: will one day taste of that victory in full when

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Speaker 2: we meet Him face to face. That is why we

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Speaker 2: must keep our eyes fixed upon the hope of eternity

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Speaker 2: and not on this life. And that is why faith

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Speaker 2: in God is so important, because it is the rock

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Speaker 2: on which we stand when trials and the storms of

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Speaker 2: life come. Because they will. We must remember that our

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Speaker 2: faith in Him means that because of the Cross, we

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Speaker 2: are forgiven, and now we can have the hope that

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Speaker 2: He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He never leaves

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Speaker 2: our side and walks with us through the valley and

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Speaker 2: the mountaintop experiences. And we have the ultimate hope that

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Speaker 2: there is a glorious eternal life that awaits us in

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Speaker 2: Christ Jesus. So that is our anchor, the hope of eternity.

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Speaker 2: There is a day that awaits believers where all pain

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Speaker 2: and suffering will cease. But until then we continue to

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Speaker 2: declare and if not, he is still good and trust

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Speaker 2: our lives in his sovereign hands. No matter what comes

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Speaker 2: our way, we must ask God to help us find

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Speaker 2: his mercy and goodness when trials in the storms of

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Speaker 2: life come our way.

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Speaker 1: If we are.

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Speaker 2: Prone to grumble and complain, may the Holy Spirit convict

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Speaker 2: our hearts and remind us to be thankful for His

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Speaker 2: promise of eternity because of the Cross. May we look

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Speaker 2: for opportunities to comfort those around us who are suffering

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Speaker 2: as well, so we can help hold each other up.

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Speaker 2: Who around you may need to be comforted Right now?

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Speaker 2: We live in a fallen world, and although we cannot

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Speaker 2: escape suffering, we know that Heaven is our home and

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Speaker 2: that the crown of life awaits those who stand firm

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Speaker 2: in the faith, trusting that Jesus has overcome the world

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Speaker 2: and there is no reason to fear. Let us praise

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Speaker 2: God that He will never abandon us to walk through

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Speaker 2: suffering alone. For their reading Romans chapter eight, verse eighteen,

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Speaker 2: tewod Corinthians Chapter one, verses three through five.

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Speaker 1: The Crosswalk Devotional is a production of Life Audio and

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Speaker 1: Salem Media. If you liked what you heard today, please

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